Law Departments and Clients Face Budgetary Concerns in 2017

Law departments are not being asked to do more with less? Instead, they are being asked to do more with more (though sometimes their budget increases are not keeping up with their new responsibilities).

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Nearly one-third of senior law department leaders expect their annual operating budget to increase in 2017. That’s according to recently released data in ALM Intelligence’s Corporate Counsel Agenda, an annual survey of corporate counsel at large U.S. corporations. With almost half of respondents saying they expect no increase in 2017, that means three-quarters of law departments expect their budgets to either remain flat or increase — down from last year’s 84%.

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